peace

❝ No longer am I wretched with regret. No longer do I drown in unmoored anger, nor grapple with bitterness snarling. No longer am I raging in the secret heart of myself.

(No longer am I sorrowful. No longer weeping.)

No, no—gentle airs have washed through me, sweeping away deleterious detritus.

Hope—clemency--peace--stir within me, gently wakened, wings unfurling, limned in light.

Yes—I forgive you for your love unfamiliar, unwanted, and mine unmatching. I forgive our muteness, our deafness, our histories incompatible, our tragedies unspoken.
​
I forgive us our unbelonging. ❞

— (I forgive us both for the time it took to get here.)